This stimulating book explores the long-standing relationship between psychotherapy and politics and argues that from the beginning psychotherapy has had a political face. Documenting instances where ideas from psychotherapy have been incorporated into the political agenda, the book demonstrates the practical value of psychotherapy as an instigator of social and political change. Related to this, attempts to understand and evaluate political life through the application of psychotherapeutic concepts are examined. The author poses a number of key questions, including: What is human nature? Are aggression and violence innate in us? Is the therapeutic relationship inherently unequal? And, is the political an a

This volume offers a psychology of human personality and behavior created as a function of the politics practiced by the social structure in which they are based. The interaction of individuals with authoritarian/totalitarian, democratic/humanistic and anarchistic forms of politics is examined. The focus is on the particular type of politics practiced by psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis, with the conclusion that these enterprises operate more along authoritarian/totalitarian than democratic/humanistic lines. Simon argues that the mental health field, as currently dominated by psychiatric thinking entrenched in the myths of mental illness, is acting as a social control agency and a force in the development of a totalitarian state. This volume aso offers a view of how psychotherapy can be used as a means to fuel democratic states for individuals. Other works that focus on the politics of psychiatric services have also emerged since Thomas Szasz' work, The Myth of Mental Illness, but this is the first to demonstrate the dangers of the psychiatry and therapy industries from this variety of political, religious, and scientific perspectives.

This book explores the moral, social, and political implications of dominant psychological theories and practices. The analysis entails the therapeutic uses of psychoanalysis, cognitive, behavioral, and humanistic psychology, as well as the practice of clinical, school, and industrial/organizational psychology. It is argued that applied psychology strengthens the societal status quo, thereby contributing to the perpetuation of social injustice. Most discussions of morality in psychology deal with the ethical repercussions of practices on individual clients. This book is unique in that it deals with the social ethics of psychology; that is, with the social morality of the discipline. It is also unique in that it offers a comprehensive critique of the most popular psychological means of solving human problems. The author does not stop at the level of critique but provides a vision for including the values of self-determination, distributive justice, collaboration, and democratic participation in psychology. He shows how some of these values have already been adopted by feminist and community psychologists. Given the prominence of psychology in contemporary society, The Morals and Politics of Psychology should be of interest to mental health professionals and their clients, as well as to people concerned with morality and social justice.

Andrew Samuels is one of the best known figures internationally in the fields of psychotherapy, Jungian analysis, relational psychoanalysis and counselling, and in academic studies in those areas. His work is a blend of the provocative and original together with the reliable and scholarly. His many books and papers figure prominently on reading lists in clinical and academic teaching contexts. This self-selected collection, Passions, Persons, Psychotherapy, Politics, brings together some of Samuels' major writings at the interface of politics and therapy thinking. In this volume, he includes chapters on the market economy; prospects for eco-psychology and environmentalism; the role of the political Trickster, particularly the female Trickster; the father; relations between women and men; and his celebrated and radical critique of the Jungian idea of ‘the feminine principle’. Clinical material consists of his work with parents and on the therapy relationship. The book concludes with his seminal and transparent work on Jung and anti-semitism and an intriguing account of the current trajectory of the Jungian field. Samuels has written a highly personal and confessional introduction to the book. Each chapter also has its own topical introduction, written in a clear and informal style. There is also much that will challenge the long-held beliefs of many working in politics and in the social sciences. This unique collection of papers will be of interest to psychotherapists, Jungian analysts, psychoanalysts and counsellors – as well as those undertaking academic work in those areas.

Given that people who are distressed often choose to go for help in therapy, it is therapists' duty and responsibility to deconstruct practices and to be clear about the ethics, values and effects of the practices they use. This book is based on the values and ethics of justice and responsibility, to resist domination and totalising discourses.

Cognitive Analytic Therapy and the Politics of Mental Health provides an overview of the development of cognitive analytic therapy (CAT), and illuminates how the political context affects the way in which therapists consider their work and facilitates their practice. This book examines how CAT contributes to wider debates over ‘the politics of mental health’. With contributions from those working in services – including adult mental health, learning disabilities and child and adolescent therapists – the writers consider how contemporary politics devolves responsibility for mental illness onto those suffering distress. The evolving political and social attitudes clients bring to therapy are also addressed in several chapters, and there is a focus on groups in society who have been marginalized and neglected in mental and physical health services. Cognitive Analytic Therapy and the Politics of Mental Health offers a fresh understanding of the contemporary politics of mental health that will be of interest to all therapists and mental health professionals.

Do political concerns belong in psychodynamic treatment? How do class and politics shape the unconscious? The effects of an increasingly polarized, insecure and threatening world mean that the ideologically enforced split between the political order and personal life is becoming difficult to sustain. This book explores the impact of the social and political domains at the individual level. The contributions included in this volume describe how issues of class and politics, and the intense emotions they engender, emerge in the clinical setting and how psychotherapists can respectfully address them rather than deny their significance. They demonstrate how clinicians need to take into account the complex convergences between psychic and social reality in the clinical setting in order to help their patients understand the anxiety, fear, insecurity and anger caused by the complex relations of class and power. This examination of the psychodynamics of terror and aggression and the unconscious defences employed to deny reality offers powerful insights into the microscopic unconscious ways that ideology is enacted and lived. Psychoanalysis, Class and Politics will be of interest to all mental health professionals interested in improving their understanding of the ideological factors that impede or facilitate critical and engaged citizenship. It has a valuable contribution to make to the psychoanalytic enterprise, as well as to related scholarly and professional disciplines.